Statutory guidance

Phonics screening check: monitoring visits guidance

Updated 25 March 2024

Introduction

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has produced this publication to provide guidance for local authorities about monitoring visits for the phonics screening check. It also contains instructions for completing the phonics screening check monitoring visit form.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to monitor the administration of the phonics screening check. The legal basis for this activity is set out in The Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 1 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 2004 (as amended).

Monitoring visits help ensure that schools maintain the security and confidentiality of check materials and that they administer the phonics screening check correctly and consistently.

Changes for the academic year 2023 to 2024

This guidance previously covered end of key stage 1 (KS1) assessments as well as the phonics screening check. As the end of KS1 assessments are no longer statutory from the academic year 2023 to 2024, monitoring visitors are no longer required to observe the security of the KS1 test materials.

Section 1: Carrying out monitoring visits

Preparing for a visit

To carry out a monitoring visit correctly, you should ensure you have read and understood this guidance.

You should also be familiar with the following 2024 guidance:

• Assessment and reporting arrangements (phonics screening check)
• Phonics screening check administration guidance (in particular the section about maintaining the security of check materials)

Carrying out a visit

Depending on when your visit takes place, you will need to observe certain aspects of check administration to ensure the school is following the published guidance correctly.

Your local authority’s monitoring visits co-ordinator, or relevant person from your organisation, will give you specific information before each visit.

When carrying out a monitoring visit, you should take with you:

• information taken from the delivery note generator STA provided via email, to show the quantity of check materials the school should have received
• copies of the phonics screening check monitoring visit form and this guidance
• photo identification to present on arrival at a school - this can be a passport, driving licence or official work pass

Complete the monitoring visit form as directed. At the end of the visit, you will need to meet with the headteacher, or delegated member of staff, to discuss your findings.

Visits before the check week

These monitoring visits take place during the week beginning Monday 3 June.

Schools should have received their phonics screening check materials in the week commencing Monday 20 May.

During your visit you should:

• check schools have received the correct number and type of packs in their initial phonics screening check materials consignment, and they are unopened, undamaged, and stored securely
• review other elements of the planned administration, such as the rooms where the checks will take place

Receipt and storage of check packs

Your monitoring visits co-ordinator will give you details of the number of check packs delivered to the school, taken from STA’s delivery note generator.

Schools receive a printed delivery note in their check materials consignment. They should have:

• used it to check they received all the materials listed
• annotated it to confirm the quantity and type of materials were correct

Ask the headteacher, or delegated member of staff, to show you their delivery note and where the check materials are stored. Check that the number and types of packs match the delivery note, and that all packs are sealed and stored securely.

Damaged phonics screening check packs

Check whether the school received any damaged check packs and reported them. If they have not already done so, advise them to contact the national curriculum assessments helpline immediately on 0300 303 3013.

Early opening of check materials

Schools are not permitted to open the phonics check packs before the start of the check week on Monday 10 June.

Schools that need to adjust materials, so that pupils can access them, can do so at any point within the check week. They do not need to seek approval from, or make notifications to, STA. More information is available in the phonics screening check administration guidance.

Who will administer the check?

You should speak to the headteacher, or the teacher responsible for the administration of the phonics screening check, to ensure that an appropriate member of staff will be administering it and that they fully understand the administration arrangements, including scoring.

The check must be administered on a one to one basis, by a member of staff who is trained in phonics and known to the pupil. The role requires professional judgement about which responses are correct.

The check should not be administered by a teaching assistant or higher-level teaching assistant unless they are trained in phonics and have experience delivering phonics sessions to pupils. The check administrator must not be a relative, carer or guardian of the pupil taking the check.

Schools must not administer the check virtually.

Visits during the check week

These visits take place during the phonics screening check week, between Monday 10 June and Friday 14 June.

You should review past phonics screening check materials before the visit, so you are familiar with the kinds of words pupils will be asked to decode. This will help you judge whether any assistance given to pupils is in accordance with the guidance. You may ask the school for a list of the phonics words used in the check when you arrive. These materials must be kept secure until Monday 24 June.

You should arrive at the school at the beginning of the school day, before the start of the check, so that you can observe the complete administration process, including:

• opening the check packs
• administering the check
• storing the materials and answer sheets securely

You should confirm that:

• the room in which the check is administered is suitable
• wall displays or items that could help pupils are removed or covered up
• appropriate administrators will be administering the check and have undertaken appropriate training
• the school has made appropriate preparations to submit their data

You should also do this for any checks administered during the timetable variation period.

Pupil observation

You should aim to observe between 2 and 10 pupils, depending on the size of the cohort.

Prior to the check, confirm with the headteacher or check administrator whether any pupils will find the observation uncomfortable. It is important that pupils are not distracted by the presence of a visitor. If a pupil is likely to be distracted, you should observe another pupil instead.

You should also agree with the headteacher or check administrator whether they should explain your presence to the observed pupils.

You should only enter the room before a pupil starts the check, so that your monitoring activity does not disturb the pupil or interrupt the administration of the check.

When you observe the phonics screening check, ensure that:

• it is introduced to the pupil appropriately
• no inappropriate assistance is given - for example, encouraging a pupil to blend words or ‘have another go’

You are not expected to score any checks in parallel with the check administrator. You might consider discussing the scoring decisions with the check administrator, but you should not overrule their judgement on a pupil’s responses to the check.

If you observe what you consider misconceptions of phonics, or the scoring of the check, you should discuss this with the check administrator after the check has been administered - for example, a visitor may think the check administrator has not realised that an alternative pronunciation of a grapheme should be scored as correct. You would not need to report this to STA. If you are unable to discuss your observation with the check administrator, you should discuss it with the headteacher or delegated member of staff.

Storing opened check materials

Schools must store all phonics screening check materials and answer sheets securely until Monday 24 June. You should confirm with the school how materials and answer sheets are securely stored after the check week.

Collating pupils’ scores and returning data

You should discuss the arrangements in place for collating pupils’ scores into the data return sheets and how this data will be provided to your local authority.

Where schools have already completed this task, you should make sure that the data return sheet has been completed correctly.

Visits after the check week

These visits take place immediately after the check week, from Monday 17 June to Friday 21 June.

You should use these visits to:

• discuss the administration of the check
• ensure the materials are stored securely
• confirm arrangements for submitting data

Timetable variations

Schools can administer the phonics screening check to any pupils who were absent during the check week until Friday 21 June.

Pupils must only attempt the check once during the check period.

Where schools are administering checks as part of a timetable variation, you should complete the steps for visits during the check week.

Completing the monitoring visit form

You must complete the phonics screening check monitoring visit form for each school you visit. You must complete sections A and B in full. If applicable, you must also complete section C. Further guidance is available in section 2 of this guidance.

Meeting with the headteacher

Before you leave the school, you should meet with the headteacher, or delegated member of staff, to discuss your findings from the visit. If you have placed an ‘X’ in any box on the monitoring visit form, you should advise whether the school should make changes to its check administration procedures for any remaining checks. If you did not find anything that concerned you, make this clear in your verbal feedback, but do not record good practice on the monitoring visit form.

You and the headteacher or delegated member of staff should sign and date the monitoring visit form. This confirms that the visit took place, you have given any feedback about the administration of the check to the school, and they agree to what you have noted.

You should leave a copy of the monitoring visit form, and any delivery notes you have annotated, with the headteacher or delegated member of staff. You must not add any additional detail or make changes to the monitoring visit form after this point.

After the monitoring visit

You must send the completed monitoring visit form to your monitoring visits co-ordinator immediately after the visit and discuss any findings as soon as possible.

The monitoring visits co-ordinator should then send the monitoring visit form to [email protected].

Further instructions and deadlines are available in section 2 of this guidance.

Section 2: How to complete the monitoring visit form

Printing the form

Review and print the phonics screening check monitoring visit form. Sample images of each section are included below. Follow the instructions to complete the form for each school you visit. 

Completing the form

Form section A: General administration

Refer to section 1 of this guidance on:

• carrying out a visit
• check materials
• who will administer the check

Use ‘✓’ to indicate that you have observed the correct general administration.

Use ‘X’ where you have concerns. Briefly explain what you have observed in the notes section.

Form section B: Check-specific information

Refer to section 1 of this guidance on carrying out monitoring visits.

Use ‘✓’ to indicate that you have observed the correct processes.

Use ‘X’ where you have concerns. Briefly explain what you have observed in section C. Concerns may include:

• inappropriate support during a check
• answer sheets have not been properly completed
• answer sheets are not stored securely
• data from the answer sheets has not been properly and accurately transferred to the local authority’s data system

If you have concerns around the integrity of an assessment, contact the national curriculum assessments helpline on 0300 303 3013 for further advice. Discuss the issues with your monitoring visits co-ordinator as soon as possible.

If you identified any irregularities during your visit that require an urgent response, discuss this with your monitoring visits co-ordinator so they can immediately email the completed form to [email protected].

Ask the headteacher, or delegated member of staff, to sign the monitoring visit form to confirm that the visit has taken place and any feedback about the administration of the phonics screening check has been given to the school.

Form section C: Notes

Record concerns only. Briefly explain your concerns if you have entered an ‘X’ in section B. Any other issues arising during the visit may also be recorded here.

If you are aware of a sensitive matter relating to potential maladministration, which you determine should remain confidential from the school, you may report this directly to [email protected].

Submitting the form

You must send the completed monitoring visit form to your local authority’s monitoring visits co-ordinator immediately after the visit. The deadline for sending completed phonics screening check monitoring visit forms to your co-ordinator is Monday 24 June.

The monitoring visits co-ordinator should then send a scanned, unencrypted copy of the monitoring visit form to [email protected] using the following subject line:

PSCMVF-geographical area-local authority number (three digits)-number of schools

Example: PSCMVF-Coventry-123-8

If you identified any irregularities during your visit that require an urgent response from STA, the monitoring visits co-ordinator should send the monitoring visit form to [email protected] using the following subject line instead:

Urgent-PSCMVF-geographical area-school DfE number

Example: Urgent-PSCMVF-Coventry-1234567

The final deadline for local authority monitoring visits co-ordinators to send phonics screening check monitoring visit forms to STA is Friday 28 June.

Section 3: Help and support

If you have questions about carrying out monitoring visits, you should speak to your monitoring visits co-ordinator.

If they are unable to help, you can contact the national curriculum assessments helpline on 0300 303 3013 or at [email protected].